♪ massive and widespread flooding hits california in a major way. we'll have a live report straight ahead. the kansas city chiefs pull off a win the day after one of their own commits suicide. new details about his death, the murder of his girl friend and what happens their 3-month-old baby. and an entire town is evacuated this morning.

find out the unusual reason why in just two minutes. good morning. welcome to "early start" for a monday morning. >> yes. >> hard to get up on a monday, isn't it? >> it sure is. >> i'm alina cho. >> i'm zoraida sambolin. today is december 3rd. it is 5:00 a.m. in the east. the rain keeps coming in northern california. the third pacific storm unleashing floodwaters, knocking out power to thousands in san francisc francisco, sacramento and thousands of others. >> this thing just went up fast. real fast. we had previously had it gotten up high, but it hasn't gotten this bad. >> you live right here in the park? >> right there. >> right there. >> right there. i got my mom out. i took her down to a friend's house down the street. you never know with water like this what it will do.

>> people are evacuating out of the park. people are trying to totally get out. i had to park up the hill and walk down the side hill to get in here. it's really, really, it's very bad in here. >> what a mess. rob marciano has been tracking the storms that have been soaking northern california. is there more rain on the way? >> there is. not today, today we get a break, but in some areas rivers and small streams are on the rise and another pulse of energy pointing its way right at northern california. it will be the fourth pulse of heavy wind, rain and snow coming into this area over a five-day period. look at some of the damage out of oakland. a number of homes damaged because of flooding and rains there. roads damaged as well this is widespread, across the bay area, southern parts of oregon, just the infrastructure can't handle this moisture and underwashing

some of these roadways. rescues, high water rescues yesterday and over the weekend. you can just imagine when some of these small streams come up and over the roadways, if you're driving through them people get stuck. the crews are brought in to try to get the job done and folks to safety. across napa valley, incredible flooding there. the napa valley seeing some of its worst rainfall in years. look at these numbers. petrolia, california, over 17 inches. bridgeville, 15 inches. that's an incredible amount of rain. to see that much rainfall is truly remarkable. we are seeing more in the way of rainfall across seattle and portland it has stopped for today in the san francisco area. some of the rainfall yesterday

fell in the form of snow, snow levels at about 5,000 feet. i suppose it could have been worse. elsewhere, looking at a foggy travel across the lower great lakes. we'll talk more about that in the next half hour. guys, back up to you. >> rob marciano, thank you. as each day ticks by, the nation edges closer to going over the fiscal cliff. democrats and republicans cannot agree how to raise revenue and cut spending. on january 1st, as many of you know, taxes go up and doeep spending cuts take effect. the sunday talk shows reflect how far apart they are what we will not do is extend those tax cut force the wealthiest americans. there's no possibility that we will find a way to get our fiscal house in order without those tax rates going back up. >> nobody wants to go over the cliff. that's why the day after the election i tried to speed this

process up by making a concession to put revenues on the table. it's unfortunate that the white house has spent three weeks doing basically nothing. >> speaker boehner added he is flabbergasted by the administration's proposals while secretary geithner said he believes a deal can be reached by the end of the year. we could find out this morning if the supreme court will take up the issue of same-sex marriage. at 9:30 eastern, the court releases its orders list. there's a possibility justices will hear cases that challenge the federal defense of marriage act or california's proposition 8, which defines marriage as strictly between a man and a woman. an evacuation order remains in effect this morning in louisiana as authorities rush to secure more than 6 million pounds of improperly stored gunpowder. the m6 powder was found on property leased by explo systems. an operation is underway to move

that powder to underground storage facilities on the site. so far 1 million pounds has been safely stored, enough to fill 27 18-wheelers. >> a member of the coast guard is dead. he was one of two coast guard members thrown off a boat on impact, and suffered a head injury. the coast guard says the suspicious vessel was intercepted, and two poeople wee detained. nine bodies have been found in a collapsed tunnel in japan. they're not saying whether there might be more victims under the rubble. if army private bradley manning, charged in the largest leak of classified material in

history faces trial it will be in march. it was pushed back a month because of pre-trial motions. manni federal investigators are waiting for an all-clear to conduct an on-site inspection of a train bridge that collapsed friday morning in southern new jersey. several cars of a train derailed, but it's unclear what happened first, the collapse or the derailment. the cars were carrying hazardous chemicals, some of it did escape. >> they all said that there was a vapor cloud that was released and was approaching them, but there was inconsistent information in the early minutes in the accident of exactly what that product was. >> incredibly the ntsb said the bridge was inspected just last month. the pakistani school girl

activist who was shot in the head by the taliban is expressing thanks to her many supporters around the world. in a message read by anderson cooper at last night's cnn hero's ceremony in los angeles, she said "i thank the people that supported me without distinguishing religion and color." a woman from any pnepal who supports children is cnn's 2012 hero of the year. >> the 2012 cnn hero of the year from kathmandu is pushpa basnet. ♪ >> this is for my children, this is back to my country of nepal. thank you to everyone who voted for me and believed in my dream. thank you. >> how cute is she?

she's 29-year-old pushpa basnet. she received her award last night at the shrine auditorium in los angeles. during cnn's heroes all-star tribute. listen to this, since 2005, she has helped 140 children. basnet will receive $250,000 to continue her work and another 50,000 for being named one of cnn's top ten heroes of 2012. >> another nfl football player takes his own life, but not before police say he murdered his girlfriend and the mother of his 3-month-old baby. find out how he was remembered by his team, the kansas city chiefs. is it really 100 calories? let me put you on webcan... ...lean roasted chicken... and a creamy broth mmm i can still see you. [ male announcer ] progresso. you gotta taste this soup. how they'll live tomorrow. for more than 116 years, ameriprise financial has worked for their clients' futures.

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jovan belcher shot and killed his 22-year-old girl friend, kasandra perkins. belcher then turned the gun on himself outside the chiefs practice facility in front of his coaches and the general manager. he and perkins leave behind a 3-month-old daughter. the chiefs beat the panthers 27-21 last night. the struggling team winning only its second game of the season despite this senseless violence an the loss of their teammate. coach romeo crennel congratulated the team after the win. >> you stuck together as a team like we talked about, helped each other, all right? family and friends, you relied on those people, all right? you relied on your faith to help get you through this, all right? we got through it, all right? in a grand way because everybody made a contribution. everybody helped, okay? that's what a team is about. >> casey wian has been talk together chiefs players and coaches, all trying to come to grips with this violent

murder/suicide. what's the latest? >> well, the latest on the investigation, alina, it is continuing. police know what happened. jovan belcher shot his girlfriend multiple times at the home they shared. then he drove to the training complex behind me and killed himself in front of several coaches who were trying to talk him out of it. police know what happened, now they're trying to figure out and investigate why it happened. that investigation is ongoing. police are not saying much else about a potential motive. >> i think everyone who has spoken out from family members to friends have all said that they were completely shocked by this. it seems so out of character. having said that, as you know, there's been at least six current or former nfl players that have committed suicide in just the past two years. murder-suicide unprecedented. however there are some people this morning who are speculating

these tragedies could have been linked to undiagnosed concussion injuries. any truth to that? >> well, we don't know if there's truth to it, but it's certainly a natural area of inquiry. the nfl has been trying in the last couple of years to deal with the issue of concussions. as you mentioned this have been at least five former or current players who have committed suicide in recent years. the league does not know how those things are related or whether they played any role at all in this case with jovan belcher, but it's clearly an issue that the league is looking at. we are just going to have to see how this investigation continues, to see if that has any role in this tragedy. >> a lot of questions as well just about the relationship, especially of late between jovan belcher and his girlfriend, kasandra perkins. chiefs called for a moment of silence for the victims of domestic violence before last night's game.

but at least six current or former nfl players have been arrested for domestic violence this year alone. i knows there no evidence at least so far of domestic abuse in this case, but there was at least a recent history of problems between these two, right? >> police have said that there were arguments between the two, but friends and neighbors have said that there was nothing that rose to the level of anything really bad. nothing that road to the level of domestic violence. we talked to some of the chiefs after the game yesterday. one told us that what needs to happen in the nfl is teammates need to be more supportive and more involved with each other. let's listen to what he had to say. >> we need to talk to each other more as men, not as football players, but in life. generally men don't really show their feelings. they don't talk about what's going on, they don't cry or show

emotion. to have an act go on like this yesterday, it's one of those things that could have been avoided. but as a teammate, you know, we have to do more about -- not getting in peoples business, but just -- just, you know, making sure that your teammate is okay. >> being in that locker room yesterday after the game, despite the fact that the chiefs did win was a surreal experience. it was a subdued, somber mood. some of these players saying the tragedy spurred them on to the best performance they had all year. we can't forget the victims in this case and their 3-month-old daughter, who has now been left without her parents. >> a lot of players saying that jovan belcher was one of their favorite teammates. casey wian, thank you. it is 17 minutes past the hour. egypt's top court has shut down indefinitely after supporters of

president mohammeds mo morsi prevented judges from entering the building. a strong warning today from secretary of state hillary clinton to the syrian government over the potential use of chemical weapons. one official in the obama administration told cnn there are worrying signs that syria may be considering the use of such weapons against rebels. new this morning, this mayor of this town along the border with turkey told cnn that jets dropped two bombs wounding several people. it is 18 minutes past the hour. we are getting an early read on your local news making national headlines this story from "the boston globe." a year after the paper found that stores and restaurants across massachusetts were intentionally mislabeling fish. guess what? the practice continues. dna testing shows some business

are showing cheaper, lower quality fish instead of what is written on the label. in one case, slices of what were supposed to be white tuna at a sushi shop were an oily species of fish that can cause digestive issues. that's terrible. the "new york times," this story got so much attention locally here and around the nation. the homeless man who received a pair of shoes from a selfless police officer. reporters caught up with him on the upper west side and his new boots were nowhere to be seen. jeffrey hillman said the shoes are hidden because they are worth a lot of money and he could lose his life after them. hillman said he was honorably discharged after serving in the army in the 1970s and 1980s. for an expanded look at our

top stories, head to our blog. a dolphin at sea world bites a girl and the whole terrifying event was caught on camera by her own father. we have that on tape after this quick break. many of my patients still clean their dentures with toothpaste.

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a family trip to sea world goes from fun to terrifying. a dolphin lunged and grabbed a girl's hand while she moved an

empty tray that contained fish. mom and dad were there to see it all happen and had their camera rolling. here is evan lambert of wkmg. >> reporter: 8-year-old jillian thomas was living her dream, getting up close and personal with dolphins, her favorite animal, the day before thanksgiving at sea world. mom and dad had their camera rolling as jillian and her brother were feeding dolphins at the popular dolphin cove attraction. but jillian ran out of fish. in a split tech her treat became a terror. >> i'm out of fish. >> whoa! >> one more time. the dolphin lunges out of the pool and goes straight for the tray of fish taking with it jillian's arm. >> we think that attraction at sea world is dangerous. it was traumatic for us to go through that event. >> reporter: they say the dolphin punctured jillian's skin in three places and caused bleeding, but she is doing okay.

we asked sea world about it and they offered a statement. nothing is more important to us than the health, safety of our guests, employees and animals. ed carders and animal care staff are always on-site at this area, monitoring iing all interaction. >> she moved the plate to say she was done. >> reporter: we know the dolphin was not. they will not be going back to sea world. >> i'm sure they won't change that attraction, but perhaps we can change the minds of another parent or another adult. what a lucky girl. she's lucky she didn't get pulled into the water. >> right. >> it looked by the force it was a freeze frame t looked like she would have gone. i guess with a kid, it's hard for them to remember something like that, don't move the tray.

>> that's right. >> i would not go. 25 minutes past the hour. >> minding your business, u.s. stock futures up after positive data overnight on china's manufacturing sector. the s&p 500 up more than 12% since the start of the year. >> and there is a lot of key mi economic data this week. u.s. auto sales, manufacturing, construction, spending numbers today, plus a crucial update on the health of the labor market on friday through the big november jobs report. of course, investors will be watching fiscal cliff negotiations in washington all week long. ford is issuing recalls for two of its newest and biggest-selling models. the 2013 escape crossover and the 2013 fusion sedan. ford is urging owners to contact their dealers as soon as possible because the eco boost engines can overheat and catch on fire. the recall effects nearly 90,000

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. california under water, and another storm is coming through tomorrow. and nasa is making a huge

statement about mars. and the pope has a twitter account. i'm going to follow him this morning. welcome back to "early start." i'm sozoraida sambolin. >> i'm alina cho. they are sick and tired of getting soaked in northern california this morning. the third pacific storm in five days saturating the san francisco bay area this weekend. thousands are without power. trees are down and hundreds of homes have been damaged by falling limbs or floodwaters. >> people are evabcuating out o the park. as you can see in the front of the park, you can't get out. i had to park up on the hill and walk down the side hill to get in here. it's very bad in here. >> this thing just went up fast. real fast. we had previously gotten up high, but not this bad. >> you live right here in the park? >> right there. >> right here? >> right there. i got my mom out.

i took her down to a friend's house down the street because you never know with water like this, what it will do. >> rob marciano is tracking the pacific storms for us. he's in the cnn weather center in atlanta. rob, good morning. is the rain over yet for these folks? >> it is for today. as you mentioned, there's been three pulses. you get maybe a 12, 18-hour break between all of them. the next one coming in tomorrow. there's still small stream advisories. the sacramento river is still rising, causing flooding around sacramento. but today will be the day where they can catch their breath and let the ground drain some of that water and there's a ton of it. look at this. petrolia, california, 17 1/2 inches of rain. o'brien, oregon, over a foot. san francisco proper seeing over three inches. olympia, washington. even the desert, carson, nevada,

seeing some rain. snow levels came down yesterday a little bit, that helped just a bit. right now what's happening is that the radar is quiet. but another storm is lining up in the pacific, it is about to take aim at the pacific northwest mostly, but it will get down to northern california. the moisture forecast, first seattle/portland and then down to san francisco. so we have one day where san francisco and northern california can catch its breath. a lot of infrastructure damaged, and today will be a welcome rest, but tomorrow the rains return. >> all right. rob marciano, thank you very much. in 29 days the nation goes over that so-called fiscal cliff. tax hikes and spending cuts kick in if no agreement is reached between the house and republicans on how to close the budget gap. it has been more than two weeks since president obama invited the major players to the white house to discuss the situation. as of this morning, no new talks are scheduled.

brianna keilar joins us. so many republicans say they are pessimistic about a deal happening in time to avert this fiscal cliff. some say it's for political reasons. what can you tell us? >> it may all be for political reasons. that's no surprise in washington. as you can seen through dealmaking not just on this but things in the past couple of years between the white house and congress, there is almost this rhythm that has evolved. both sides are pointing to the other for an impasse. republicans like senator lindeyy graham just slamming the white house and tim geithner for a plan he laid out on behalf of the administration, laying out about $1.6 trillion in new revenues coupled with only about $400 billion in medicare cuts. listen to what graham said. >> i think we're going over the cliff. it's pretty clear to me they made a political calculation.

this offer doesn't remotely deal with entitlement reform in a way to save medicare, medicaid and social security from imminent bankruptcy. the president's plan when it comes to entitlement form is quite frankly a joke. >> so over the weekend the sunday shows, you saw geithner basically drawing a line in the sand. he said there's not going to be a deal on entitlement reform, tax reform unless republicans budge on letting those income tax rates for the wealthiest earners increase. in response to that, house speaker john boehner said he was flabbergasted by the white house's offer. he said it was not serious and republicans are calling on the white house to put more details on the table. >> you know, americans want compromise. any time we take a poll, that's what we find, they want compromise. what's the deal? republicans are backed to a corner? they will be forced to raise taxes or else we go over that fiscal cliff? >> they are a bit backed into a

corner. when you look at the lay of the land, the white house and democrats are confidence they have leverage that's because they have some here. yes, they are backed up into a corner a bit because tax rates, at least on some americans, are going to be increasing at the end of the year, no matter what. >> right. >> as you know, it's set to expire, those bush era tax rates are set to expire at the end of the year for all americans. you know, at this point the white house and democrats feel like they have enough leverage to dig in and say they have to stay in place for the middle class or really for the first $250,000 in earnings, but beyond that wealthy americans are going to have to pay more money. the question now is does the country hit this cliff with these spending cuts and the tax increases that could send the country into recession next year or is it going to be a more thought out plan that includes entitlement reform, tax reform, spending cuts and new taxes? >> brianna keilar, thank you very much. the grieving kansas city

chiefs come together and pull out a win over the carolina panther, a day after police say their teammate, jovan belcher, shot and killed his 22-year-old girlfriend, kasandra perkins. a few minutes afterwards he turned the gun on himself outside the chiefs practice facility in front of his coaches and general manager. he and perkins leave behind a 3-month-old daughter. major changes are come together manual psychiatrists use. over the weekend the american psychiatrist association voted to amend the diagnostic and statistical manual. for example, a child wit with asberger's syndrome. >> nasa officials will discover the curiosity's full away of analytical instruments during a news conference today in san francisco. the mars rover is searching for

organic compounds, which are the building blocks of life. last week it was suggested that curiosity may have found simple organic molecules. president obama recognized entertainers at the kennedy center honors last night. this year's honorees include dustin hoffman, david letterman, blues you go tartarisguitarer, led zeppelin. and kid rock ran into the president. >> i saw the president tonight. he said i'm still here. i said no hard feelings. he remembered when i played his inauguration. >> kid rock also ran into, look, wolf blitzer. this is right before the

ceremony. they look good. wolf tweeted this picture #verycool. i would agree with that. >> wolf looks great. starting today, the flock can follow the pope on twitter. sign of the times. pope benedict officially launching his own twitter account this morning. a vatican official tells cnn the pope will be composing the tweets himself. >> really? >> is he no stranger to twitter. the vatican launched a twitter news feed 17 months ago, kicked off by a tweet from pope benedict. if you want to follow him, he already has more than 17,000 followers. his handler is @pope underscore benedict. >> i have another one. there must be a couple. sunday night football action, the cowboys take on the eagles in philly. a big night for cowboys qb tony romo who threw three touchdown passes in the second half as the cowboys had a 38-33 victory. romo brought the cowboys record

for career touchdown passes, a record previously held by troy aikman. romo now has 168 career touchdowns. >> wow, college football, two legendary football programs set to battle for the bcs championship. the irish of notre dame and the crimson tide of alabama. we are going to take you live to south bend and tuscaloosa to see how the students are gearing up. that's next. [ male announcer ] when was the last time something made your jaw drop? campbell's has 24 new soups that will make it drop over, and over again.

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[ male announcer ] the spark business card from capital one. choose unlimited rewards with 2% cash back or double miles on every purchase, every day! what's in your wallet? it doesn't get. better than this, college football fans champing at the bit for the showdown between notre dame and the crimson tide of alabama. the fighting irish looking for their first national championship since 1988. meanwhile, alabama trying to become the first team to ever win back-to-back bcs titles.

it's a classic match-up between two of the country's most popular and successful programs. our ted rowlands is taking the pulse of irish fans. he's live in south bend, indiana. joe carter joins us from tide country in tuscaloosa, alabama. ted, how are students gearing up for the big event? >> well, alina, here at notre dame it's all about tradition and winning. inside the stadium they have all the championship banners hanging. outside the stadium, there's the statues of the coaches. the problem for notre dame fans has been for the last 24 years they have not won a national championship. as you can imagine, people around the country that are notre dame supporters and students at south bend are very excited. >> super excited. campus has erupted. everyone is going nuts on campus. >> everyone is worried about

getting tickets to the game. they're doing a lottery. it's tough to get tickets. but we're all just worried about getting to miami. >> especially after coming back from thanksgiving break. there's so much excitement. you hear so much about are you going to miami? yeah, everyone is going to miami whether they have a ticket or not. >> those will be tough tickets to get because there are a lot of notre dame supporters who will be making the trek to south florida for this game in january. >> as a bc eagle, i've been on that campus in south bend, i remember that leftover pizza on the floor of my jeep like it was yesterday. all right, ted rowlands, thank you. joe carter is live for us in tuscaloosa. joe, how is it going over there? >> it's going great. we're outside the cathedral, the college football cathedral in tuscaloosa. out in front of the stadium is what they call the walk of champions. all the coaches that over the years have con nation won natio

championships this is nick saban's statue, the only one that dons tennis shoes and a golf shirt. everyone else is decked out in shirts. nick saban has won two national champions, one in 2009, one 2011. and the fans pencilled in one for 2012. talking to people about the game coming up and about alabama football history, they say alabama football and college football is more than just a sport, it's a way of life, a culture. and cheering for crimson tide starts at a young age, as you will hear from this alabama fan. >> alabama, my children, i have a daughter, she's 30. she's been to 31 home comings. my son has been -- he's 21, he's been to 22 homecomings. >> i think it's incredibly special that alabama earned the opportunity to play again.

you know, i look forward to alabama beating anybody, particularly anybody not in the sec. >> nick saban and the crimson tide have been here before. this is the third time in four years they are playing for a national championship game. we have 35 days to go until we see these two storied programs battle it out in miami for the national championship. >> all right. joe carter, everyone getting excited there. i can't believe they pencilled in 2012. now they have to win. thank you very much. >> who are you rooting for? >> definitely -- i think i might have to root for alabama by default. i'm a bc eagle, and the fighting irish were our arch rival. >> i will go for the fighting irish. >> so we're even. >> the mayor of newark, new jersey, cory booker is going on food stamps this week. seriously. find out why straight ahead. if you are leaving the house, you can watch us any time on your desk top, even your

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let's get you up to date with the morning's top stories. the kansas city chiefs manage a somber win over the panthers. a day earlier, their teammate, jovan belcher shot kasandra perkins, his girlfriend, then

turned the gun on himself killing himself in front of his coaches. egypt's top court shut down indefinitely. supporters of president mohammed morsi presented the judges from entering the courthouse in cairo on sunday. the judges were supposed to rule on the legitimacy of the islamist dominated upper house of parliament. president obama has a busy couple of days coming up. today he hosts the prime minister of bulgaria in the oval office, then heads to national defense university to deliver remarks there. tomorrow the president meets with governors at the white house. they will be discussing, what else, the impending fiscal cliff. news corporations uk chief tom mockridge is stepping down. he took over the unit 18 months ago at the height of the company's phone hacking scandal the time has finally come, cory booker taking the food stamp challenge this week. the newark mayor will only be

eating with food he can buy for $37. that is the average food stamped benefit in his week. booker said he will be giving up coffee because he can't afford it. that will be tough for us. >> no doubt. >> interesting to see at the end of that how he does. >> i'm sure he will be documenting on twitter what goes on during those days. coming up, one of the strangest cases of cosmetic surgery, can't make this up. did you read about this? mustache implants. that's right. we'll tell you about it next. [ male announcer ] when this hotel added aflac to provide a better benefits package... oahhh! [ male announcer ] it made a big splash with the employees. [ duck yelling ] [ male announcer ] find out more at... [ duck ] aflac! [ male announcer ] ...forbusiness.com. ♪ ha ha! since ameriprise financial was founded back in 1894, they've been committed to putting clients first. helping generations through tough times.

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welcome back to "early start." i'm zoraida sambolin along with alina cho. we are looking at the top cnn trends on the web. mustache transplants are on the rise. in the middle east, a thick mustache is seen as a sign of maturity. a cosmetic surgeon in paris says he has been busy performing mustache transplants. the procedure takes taking hairs from other parts of the body and implanting them on the face. >> just the mental, visual of that. >> hugh hefner and crystal harris, did you hear this? >> i did. >> they decided to get married after all. tmz is reporting the couple will tie the knot on new year's eve, where else? at the playboy mansion. hefner, 86 years old. looks pretty good harris, 26. you may recall they were set to be married last year but harris

called it off five days before it was to be held. >> i will keep my mouth shut on that one. it looks like more and more parents are looking at their smartphones before they name their babies. >> this is good. >> the folks at babycenter.com say apple, siri and m ashgac di make the dop top ten, but apple sup 15%, sir is up 15%, and mac up 5%. we have been talking about the fiscal cliff, why it may matter to you, but jay leno made lindsay lohan a part of the punch line. >> are you sick and tired of

hearing this term fiscal cliff? oh. it turns people off. they don't understand it. doesn't tell you how serious the situation is. they need more colorful metaphors. you know what i'm saying? here's how they should explain it. it's 4:00 a.m. for our economy, and lindsay lohan is behind the wheel. that says danger. people understand that. they understand that. >> everyone in l.a. goes nuts when it rains. oh, no it's raining! it's never been this bad before! people are taking shelter under meg ryan's lips, the whole city -- the whole city smells like a wet kardashian! it's panic here! lindsay lohan went to jail just to stay dry! >> "early start" continues right now. the kansas city chiefs pull off a win the day after one of

their own commits suicide. we have new details about his death, the murder of his girlfriend and what happens now to their 3-month-old baby. flooding hits california in a major way. and an entire town is evacuated this morning, but why? we'll tell you in just two minutes. good morning. welcome to monday. i'm alina cho in for john berman. >> i'm zoraida sambolin. today is december 3rd. just about 6:00 a.m. in the east. another pacific storm soaking northern california this weekend leaving thousands of weary homeowners without power, as well. it's the third storm to hit the region in less than a week. unleashing floodwaters and damaging homes from san francisco, sacramento and several surrounding communities. people who've lived in the areas for decades say they have never seen anything like this.

>> i mean this thing just went up fast, real fast. we have seen where it's gotten up real high but wasn't gotten this bad. >> you live right here? >> right there. >> right here? >> yeah, right there. i got my mom out. i took her down to a friend's house down the street. you never know water, at this point, what it's going to do. >> people are evacuating out of the park, and as you see in the front of the park you can't get out. i had to park up on the hill and walk down the side hill to get in here. so it's really, really, it's very bad in here. >> rob marciano's been tracking the storms from the cnn weather center in atlanta. rob, somebody was saying it feels like just five minutes of a reprieve and then here it comes again. is there any end in sight for these folks. >> a little bit more than five minutes today, but another batch of rain tomorrow. as you've seen and heard the damage for the most part already doing. we're seeing some infrastructure damage. look at some of the stuff out of oakland, lafayette, that neighbor inundated with rain

fall and some of the hillsides taking out not only homes but the under structure of roadways. you're ukking about serious damage to the roads both primary and secondary and that's going to continue. also, you know, you get this kind of water over top of roadways, people driving through it, rescues a problem. this area saw a number of water rescues there with the fire department on hand to get their squad out there to rescue folks. and napa valley also seeing it. north of san francisco, tremendous amount of rainfall there. some of the rivers up and over the top of their flood banks, and that will continue today. sacramento river is still under flood stage, and they're releasing some of the pressure from some of the dams across northern california, as well. some dramatic stuff there. our next pulse of energy that's about to come through, but also look at how much rainfall, can actually fall in the bucket. 17.50 inches in petrol yoo. sterling city over a foot in a five day period.

seattle and portland, rain and snow in high elevations. not raining over northern california. that's good news. snow levels came down just a little bit to about 5,000 or 6,000 feet. that helps with some of the moisture up in the mountains. it could have been worse. here what our next computer model shows the next batch of rain. starts off in seattle tonight and then drifts down towards san francisco tomorrow. probably not as much rain as what we've seen, but certainly enough to continue to do some damage. the other issue today, a lot of fog. across the great lakes, chicago, down across the deep south. it is warm. soupy up there. that will slow down your travel in the airwaves and on the roads. >> all right, rob, thank you very much. the kansas city chiefs managed to beat the carolina panthers 27-21. but it was a somber victory. they took to the field just a day after police say their teammate jovan belcher shot and killed his 22-year-old girlfriend kasandra perkins. belcher then turned the gun on himself just outside the chief's practice facility, right in front of the general manager and coaches.

he and perkins leave behind a 3-month-old daughter. our casey wian has been talking to the chiefs players and coaches, all trying to come to grips with this violent murder/suicide. casey, good morning, what's the latest on the investigation? >> good morning, alina. the investigation continues. police know what happened to jovan belcher shot his girlfriend kasandra perkins multiple times at the home that they shared on saturday morning. and then drove here to the chiefs training facility, and shot himself dead in front of the general manager, his coach, and other team personnel they had tried to talk him out of doing that. of course, what the investigation is now centered on is why this happened. everyone we've spoken with, and everyone who's spoken out publicly about jovan belcher said this was something that was very out of character for him. he was not a violent person. he was someone who was a good character guy, according to his agent. so police are trying to find out what drove him to commit this

tragic act that has left a 3-month-old little girl without her parents. alina? >> yeah, i think that is the big question, obviously, when you think about something so tragic, so terrible. having said that, these same people who said it was out of character also alluded to the fact that there might have been some recent problems in the relationship between belcher and perkins, right? >> that's true. there were arguments between the two and there've been published reports saying that there've been weeks of arguments between the two. we did speak to a neighbor who said he hadn't heard anything like that but those who said that the two were arguing said it was nothing really out of the ordinary, sort of characterizing it as normal couples arguing. the chiefs did, though, hold a moment of silence before yesterday's game. it was apparently a preplanned moment of silence, to honor the victims of domestic violence. alina?

>> casey wian live for us in kansas city, missouri. casey, thank you. it is five minutes past the hour. only 29 days to go until the nation risks going over that so-called fiscal cliff. democrats and republicans are unable, so far, to agree on how to raise revenue and cut spending to close the big budget gap on january 1st taxes go up, deep spending cuts kick in, if the two sides cannot reach an agreement. the sunday talk shows offered an example of how far apart they are. >> what we're not going to do is extend those tax cuts for the wealthiest americans. remember those cost a trillion dollars over ten years and there's no possibility that we're going to find a way to get our fiscal house in order without those tax rates going back up. >> nobody wants to go over the cliff. that's why the day after the election i tried to speed this process up by making the concession to put revenues on the table. and it's unfortunate that the white house has spent three weeks doing basically nothing.

>> i know what you heard there. but treasury secretary geithner said he does believe a deal can be reached by the end of the year. member of the u.s. coast guard is dead after a suspicious boat rammed his small boat off the coast of southern california. chief petty officer terrell thorn was one of two coast guard members thrown off on impact. he suffered a traumatic head injury. the other coast guardsman was treated at a local hospital. coast guard says the suspicious vessel was intercepted, and the two people were detained. we could find out later this morning if the supreme court will wade into the controversial issue of same-sex marriage. the court releases its orders list at 9:30 eastern time. and there is a possibility justices will hear cases that challenge the federal defense of merge act or doma as it's known or california's proposition 8 which defines marriage as strictly between a man and a woman. authorities have ordered folks in parts of louisiana to get out of town as they work to

secure more than 6 million pounds of gun powder. gun powder. improperly stored m-6 powder was found at camp minden on property leased by expo system. workers are busy moving the powder into authorized facilities on the site. they have safely stored more than 1 million pounds. that is enough to fill 27 18-wheelers. >> wow. nine bodies have been recovered from three crushed, burned out cars in a highway tunnel 50 miles west of tokyo. officials still don't know what caused a 200 foot section of eight inch thick concrete to cave in over the weekend. take a look at these incredible pictures. and they're not saying whether there might be more victims in the rubble. malala yousafzai, that pakistani girl who was shot in the head by the taliban is saying thank you to all of her new friends all over the world. in a message read by anderson cooper last night's cnn heroes

ceremony in los angeles, malala said, quote, i thank the people that supported me without distinguishing religion and color. she is now recovering at a british hospital. dozens of residents demonstrating right outside the home they say serves as a maternity center for chinese mothers. neighbors claim pregnant women in china pay thousands of dollars to come to the united states with legal tourist visas, then stay in the maternity center until they give birth. their so-called anchor babies are then automatically u.s. citizens. in the 7:00 hour of "starting point" we'll talk about the chinese maternity center with rosanna mitchell. she is the spokesperson for the group "not in chino hills." >> all right, so if you live around new york city you know that the traffic can be terrible around here around the holidays. lots and lots of tourists. but nothing compared to this. listen to this. how about that traffic jam that lasted an entire weekend? we're talking about 155 miles of traffic. we will tell you about it after a quick break.

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welcome back to "early start." this morning there is a complete standstill in washington over talks aimed at preventing the nation from falling over that so-called fiscal cliff. tax hikes and spending cuts kick in in january, january 1st that is if no agreement is reached between the white house and republicans on how to close the budget gap. it has been more than two weeks since president obama invited the major players to the white house to discuss the situation. and each side has staked out a position, and neither appears willing to brung at all. we are joined by white house correspondent brianna keilar. good morning to you, brianna. so the white house is insisting income taxes for the wealthy

increase, and they are not budging on that position. how do we ever get to a compromise here? >> yeah, they're not budging on that. the white house, zoraida, after really not being happy with the pace of negotiations a week before last, sent treasury secretary tim geithner to the hill to talk to house republicans and lay out what really has been public, what president obama wants, or at least his opening offer for deficit reduction, about $1.6 trillion in new taxes and significantly less in spending cuts. in entitlement reform, and now you have the white house really sensing that they have some leverage here, saying to house republicans, you know what? you go ahead and you put the meat on the bones when it comes to this really politically precarious part of entitlement which is often construed as cutting entitlements like medicare. here's what tim geithner said. >> we laid out a program of how we do it in what stages with $600 million of spending cuts in

ten years over entitlement programs. the thing now is for them to come to us and say here's what we think makes sense. we've told them hat we think makes sense. they have to come tell us. >> so he's drawing a line there in the sand. we also heard over the weekend from house speaker john boehner that he found geithner's proposal flabbergasting. he said it wasn't serious. but what you have, zoraida, is the white house and democrats sensing that they do have the leverage, and if you look at it they really do. part of that because polls show that americans may be more ready to blame republicans for an impasse here and also because spending cuts and tax increases, that fiscal cliff set to kick in at the end of the year, that's going to happen if a deal isn't reached and they feel that that's boxing house republicans in. >> brianna, i'm going to preface this by saying that math is not my forte. however we have 29 days to the fiscal cliff. they go on vacation, break for the holidays on the 15th. so technically we have 12 days to reach a deal. is that enough time?

>> you know, there is still time. i think that's the important thing to know. it seems like one of the drops, first off, congressdoesn't like to hang around for christmas. we've learned that from past years. the payroll 2 cut last year out of here before christmas. they don't really like to do that. so i think really it seems the drop is the end of the year. but december 17th, the week before christmas is really seen as a very important week. there's still time to figure this out. anyone on both sides of this equation will tell you they know what the math is, zoraida. even if it's tough for us to understand, they understand what's at stake here. they understand how you have to move around some of these numbers. the question really is, this negative tone that we're hearing, much more negative than a couple weeks ago, how much of it is posturing, and how much of it is reality? you know, some of it is definitely posturing. but it's really, it's tricky to see at this point, and congress has such a habit in these deals that it brokers with the white house of taking this right up to the edge, it certainly makes us very nervous.

>> it does, indeed. the clock is ticking. brianna keilar, live for us in washington. thank you very much. 16 minutes after the hour. let's get you up to date with this morning's top stories. a stern warning today from secretary of state hillary clinton to the syrian government over the potential use of chemical weapons. this as one official in the obama administration tells cnn there are, quote, worrying signs syria may be considering the use of such weapons against rebels. the partisan divide over susan rice's potential nomination to become secretary of state is intensifying now. democrats are still defending the comments rice made in the aftermath of the 9/11 attacks on the u.s. consulate in ben gas day. but new hampshire's republican senator kelly ayotte insists rice knew more than she was letting on. >> she did. that information she had reviewed before going on the sunday shows, went on the sunday shows, went well beyond the talking points. >> what we should be focused on

is not so much what was said about which talking points but how did the tragedy where four americans were kimmed in benghazi happen? >> senator mark warner says republicans and democrats should stop fighting and focus on making sure state department employees around the world are properly protected. a high ranking leader of al qaeda in iraq has been arrested in northern baghdad. two senior security officials would only reveal it's a senior leader of the group, and are not revealing his name for security reasons. do you think your morning commute is rough? check this out. >> man. >> 125 mile long traffic jam between moscow and st. petersburg. russia this weekend, imagine this, something like dense fog after days of heavy snow. to slow things down. to a super crawl. in some places, two feet of snow has fallen since friday. >> good times. >> got to go to the bathroom. what do you do? >> persistent cough is keeping

former president george h.w. bush hospitalized in texas this morning. the 88-year-old bush has been in and out of the hospital for nearly a month after coming down with a case of bronchitis. no discharge date has been announced just yet. thousands of schoolchildren in this country will spend a lot more time in the classroom. this is beginning next fall. school days and the overall school year will be lengthened in five states as a way to help underperforming students achieve better results in their studies. >> kids are going to love that. firefighters and family members are calling it a miracle. a couple from oregon survived after a 100 foot fir tree crushed their car. that's what their car looked like. firefighters say the couple actually walked away from the wreckage. >> they must have had a bright light shining down on them because if you look at the passenger compartment, especially the driver's compartment, there's about a space of two loaves of bread in there. how the husband survived is just remarkable. >> family members say the couple had just moved to the area and

were out house hunting when the tree came crashing down. i wonder if they'll still live in the area. the man suffered a broken shoulder, his wife, amazingly wasn't hurt at all. >> when you look at that car, that's unimaginable. >> somebody was watching over them. >> that's right. they are blessed. coming up a dolphin at sea world bites a girl and the whole terrifying event was caught on camera by her own father if you can believe it. can believe it. we have that tape for you. with scottrader streaming quotes, any way you want. fully customize it for your trading process -- from thought to trade, on every screen. and all in real time. which makes it just like having your own trading floor, right at your fingertips. [ rodger ] at scottrade, seven dollar trades are just the start. try our easy-to-use scottrader streaming quotes. it's another reason more investors are saying... [ all ] i'm with scottrade. >> hi. >> you know, i can save you 15% today if you open up a charge card account with us. >> announcer: we all love a good deal during the holidays,

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23 minutes after the hour. a fun family day turned violent in an instant. a dolphin at sea world orlando lunged and grabbed a girl's hand while she moved an empty fish tray. mom and dad were there to see it all happen. they even had their camera rolling. here's evan lambert of orlando affiliate wkmg. >> there you go. >> reporter: 8-year-old jillian thom was living her dream, getting up close and personal with dolphins. her favorite animal. the day before thanksgiving at sea world. mom and dad had their camera rolling as jillian and her brother were feeding dolphins at the popular dolphin cove attraction. but jillian ran out of fish. in a split second her treat to feed the dolphins became a terror. >> whoa, whoa, whoa. one more time the dolphin lungs out of the pool and goes straight for the tray of fish, taking with it jillian's arm and dragging her toward the pool. >> we think that attraction at

sea world was dangerous and it was traumatic for us to go through that event. >> reporter: the thomas' say the dolphin bite fupunctured her in three areas but now she's doing okay. sea world said nothing is more important to us than the health and safety of our guests, employees and animals. educators and animal care staff are always on site in this area and are committed to guest safety. the thomases say they were told repeatedly not to pick up the trays. but the 8-year-old just made a mistake. >> she forgot. and as you see in the video, moved the plate to say she was done. >> reporter: of course we know the dolphin wasn't. the thomases say they won't be back at sea world, and they hope others will heed their warning. >> we're not banking on sea world changing that attraction. you know, i'm sure that's not going to happen. but perhaps we can change the minds of another parent or even an adult. >> how scary for that little girl.

i mean, an adult would be scared. >> i would imagine that sea world will make some changes. >> i think they're going to take a good, hard look at this. minding your business this morning 25 minutes after the hour. u.s. stock futures are up after some positive data on china's manufacturing sector. 9 end of the year is fast approaching and take a look at this. the s&p 500, the best indicator for the stocks in your 401(k), is up more than 12%. since the start of the year. >> and there is a lot of economic data on tap this week that could move the markets as well. u.s. auto sales, manufacturing and construction spending numbers, out today, as well. plus, we'll get a crucial update on the health of the labor market on friday with the big november jobs report. and of course, investors will be watching fiscal cliff negotiations in washington. we'll be watching that all week long. >>ure will. the close bible of psychiatry is getting updates, autism, binge eating, mood disorders, even hoarding. we're going to dig into the details coming up. the distances aren't getting shorter.

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the football world is shaken by the murder/suicide case of jovan belcher. how did his team handle this tragedy? we're going to get reaction from tiki barber. >> the building blocks of life. today nasa is making a huge announcement about mars. >> and call it a sign of the times, folks. the pope has a twitter account. we're going to share that handle with you. i got it wrong the first time. we have it now for you. back to "early start" i'm zoraida sambolin. >> good morning, everybody. 30 minutes after the hour. i'm alina cho. >> so it is the second win of the season for the kansas city chiefs but it is a hard victory to celebrate. they beat the carolina panthers 27-21 but it came just one day after police say chief linebacker jovan belcher murdered his girlfriend kasandra perkins. shooting her multiple times. then police say belcher drove to the team's practice facility where he killed himself in front

of coaches and the general manager. the couple leaves behind their 3-month-old daughter zoe. there are pictures of her there. so i want to bring in tiki barber. he played nine seasons in the nfl as a running back with the new york giants. i'm sure you're shocked by this. and i think we're all shocked that they actually were able to play the game. go ahead and play the game just one day later. i want to play what chiefs kansas city chiefs running back said about the team's decision to play on sunday, just a day after that murder/suicide. >> definitely going to play the game today. you know this is a game we love. we're all brothers. we're all in it together. and why not go out there and do something that we love to do? >> you have a lot of experience here. how do you make a decision like that? >> it's interesting. i was on the new york giants on september 11th. and when faced with a very similar decision. obviously the loss of life was much greater and we decided not to play because there was so much tragedy. but i can understand why the kansas city chiefs wanted to get back to a sense of normalcy and try to put this behind them as

quickly as possible. because it's such an emotional point in their season. they're playing so poorly for the last ten weeks. they have this unimaginable tragedy, and they only thing that they can do is try to get back to playing football so that they can feel normal. you don't want to actually think about this. i think this next week is going to be most important for this kansas city chiefs team. i know it's the nfl. the nfl doing a lot with grief counseling. most really just having them talk about this. instead of letting it fester in their minds and try to explain it because you can't explain it. >> tiki, as you may have heard this morning, including jovan belcher, at least six current or former nfl players have committed suicide just in the past couple of years. some have been speculating that it might have something to do with undiagnosed concussion injuries. what do you make of that? >> well, it may. there's a word that's into my head because i went to the concussion hearings on capitol hill, chronic traumatic

encephalopathy. which has an effect on your reason and impulse control. there are so many things which exist outside of that concussion issue. mental illness that may have been undiagnosed or there could have been stresses at home that we didn't know about. and so it's hard to speculate and i wouldn't speculate. it would be a disservice to his girlfriend. but at the same time, you never know how bad a concussion syndromes can play on people. we've seen it most recently with junior seau a few months ago and over the history of this sport because it's so violent, has such a devastating toll on your body physically and mentally. >> there's a woman that's dead this morning and there was a moment of silence, it was had for victims of domestic violence. now, we don't know exactly what happened here, but have you heard issues of domestic violence here in the past. we know that there are reports

that say they fought a lot. >> everybody, every family, every relationship has bad moments, they fight. they get into arguments. it doesn't mean you're going to go out and do something as irrational as kill your significant other and then kill yourself. i think what you really have to look at is this is a microcosm of society, because it's the nfl, because it is such attention, i don't think it's any different than some explainable tragedy event that happened outside of the game of football. what i think is really great for athletes, it points out that we're human. we make the same mistakes that everybody else in the world, and in communities make, and oftentimes we're held to this standard that we shouldn't because we're invincible, we have this mental and emotional fortitude and can handle all of these things. that's why you supposedly have success. in reality there are forces at work inside of you that no one can explain -- and oftentimes most people don't see. >> but does that make it harder i mean this sort of tough guy culture? >> well, it does.

because it's the antithesis of what it takes to be an athlete. you have to be strong. you have to be able to deal with adversity and sometimes you need help to do that. >> i want to play something about the culture in the nfl and i want you to respond to it. >> we need to talk to each other more as men, not as football players, i mean in life. because generally men don't really show their feelings. you know, they don't talk about what's going on. they don't cry. they don't show emotion. i mean, to -- to have an act go on like this yesterday, it's one of those things, could have been avoided. but as a teammate, you know, we have to do more about not getting in people's business but i mean just, you know, making sure that, you know, your teammate is okay. >> i just asked, it could have been avoided. >> as a teammate you're talking to him, you know him intimately, you know why he's fighting with the girlfriend or you think he's going to do something irrational

like this, he went and got a gun or something of that nature you can intervene. you can cut it off at the pass. i think what happens in sports is you don't talk on that level. you talk about xs and os and how much fun we had at the party last night but you don't talk about what it takes to be a father or a fan or a person or an individual, and i think we need more examples of guys doing that. and one famously that has is brandon marshall who is a wide receiver for the chicago bears who had a lot of struggles on and off the field early in his career. affected him, his career, but he went and got help, he has borderline personality disorder, and since he's been treated he has been counseling. his life has turned around and as a result his play on the field has been stellar. we need to hold up that example. as opposed to guys who are just tough and keep it all in and ultimately have these demons that don't get addressed. >> i wonder if the nfl will play a role in that, as well. >> i would hope so. >> tiki barber, thank you so much. a search is under way for a young cancer patient whose life is now in danger.

police say the girl's mother snuck her out of phoenix children's hospital. this was last wednesday. the 11-year-old identified only as emily is battling leukemia. she still has a catheter in her heart from a recent surgery to amputate her arm. the doctors say emily could die within days if her heart becomes infected. major changes are coming to the manual psychiatrists use to diagnose mental health disorders. over the weekend the american psychiatric association voted to amend the dsm, that's the diagnostic and statistical manual for example a child with asperger's syndrome will instead be told they have autism spectrum disorder, and binge eating and hoarding have also been added to the manual. nasa officials will discuss the latest developments involving the mars rover curiosity today. curiosity is searching for organic compounds. carbon containing chemicals which are the building blocks for life. last week the director of the mars jet propulsion laboratory suggested the curiosity may have

found simple organic molecules. a woman from nepal who supports children so they don't have to live behind bars with their imprisoned parents is cnn's 2012 hero of the year. >> the 2012 cnn hero of the year from kathmandu is pushpa basnet. >> this is for my students, and this is for back to my country nepal. thank you so much for everyone hoe believed in my dream. thank you. >> how cute is she? 29-year-old pushpa basnet received her award last night. the shrine auditorium in los angeles, during cnn heroes an all-star tribute. since 2005, listen to this, she has helped more than 140 children. basnet will now receive $250,000 to continue her work, and

another $50,000 bonus for being named one of cnn's top ten heroes of the year. happy, happy faces there. president obama recognizing entertainers at the kennedy center honors. dustin hoffman, late night host david letterman, and the legendary rock band led zeppelin and during the reception for the event mitt romney supporter kid rock ran in to president obama. rock said the president wasn't awkward in fact he said they were able to laugh off their rivalry. >> he said i'm still here. so no hard feelings and he remembered meeting my son when i played his inauguration which was very special. >> kid rock also ran in to wolf blitzer right before the ceremony. wolf tweeted this picture hash tag very cool. >> great advice.

meanwhile sunday night football action the dallas cowboys take on the eagles. really a big night for cowboys quarterback tony romo who threw three touchdown passes in the second half as he led the cowboys to a 38-33 victory. romo's also drove the cowboys record for career touchdown passes. a record previously held by troy aikman with 165. romo now has 168 career tds. >> the pope is joining twitter starting december 12th pope benedict will begin tweeting using the handle @pontifex. a vatican official told cnn the pope will be composing the tweets himself. the pontiff is no stranger to twitter. the vatican launched a twitter news feed 17 months ago and it kicked off with a tweet from pope benedict. so that's @pontifex in case you're interested. >> follow him. your favorite story of the day. it is. i think it's cute.

a flood warning and several flood advisories in place right now for parts of california, and another big storm is coming through the region. we're going to check in with our rob marciano. ♪ the weather outside is frightful ♪ ♪ but the fire is so delightful ♪ nothing melts away the cold like a hot, delicious bowl of chicken noodle soup from campbell's. ♪ let it snow, let it snow plays a key role throughout our lives. one a day women's 50+ is a complete multivitamin designed for women's health concerns as we age.

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24 minutes past the hour. soledad o'brien joins us with a look at what is ahead on "starting point." >> good morning, good morning. as the clock continues to tick, both sides in washington, d.c. seem to be digging in over the fiscal cliff. one lawmaker says looks like we're going over it. we're going to talk this morning to connecticut democratic senator richard blumenthal. also florida congressman connie mack. neighbors outside a california home today. they say the home is actually serving as a maternity center

for mothers from china who want to give birth to american citizens. they're going to talk to rosanna mitchell, a person for those who are protesting called not in chino hills plus we'll have a cnn exclusive with john mcafee. he's been on the run, of course, since his neighbor was mysteriously murdered in belize. we'll tell you why martin savidge got this interview, and did this interview, getting this interview was almost as strange as the tape itself. all that and much more ahead this morning on "starting point." >> so curious about that. >> it's weird, right? >> all right, soledad we'll be watching. thousands of people in northern california are without power this morning. the third pacific storm in five days soaking the already saturated san francisco bay area this weekend. trees are down. hundreds of homes have been damaged by falling limbs and floodwaters. rob marciano joins us from the weather center. what's the latest?

>> the latest is that the rain has stopped for now. but look at these numbers as far as how much rain has come down in the last five days. nearly a foot and a half in some spots, petrolia 17 and a half inches. sterling california over a foot of rain. even san francisco proper seeing near record breaking rainfall here. this pulse of energy came through yesterday. we're still seeing some rain from seattle to portland. dry right now in san fran. but another system about to roll in. that will come in tomorrow night in to or tonight into tomorrow night. most of this one is going to go up in the pacific northwest. and then eventually dragging south into san francisco. and it could have been worse. did get some colder air that moved in late day, some of the rivers especially in the sierras, the truckee. the truckee river, didn't see nearly the amount that we could have seen. certainly napa, they saw a tremendous amount of flooding. on the east side of this system very, very warm and still moist. we've got some fog issues this morning. quarter mile visibility right now in chicago. eighth of a mile in milwaukee.

elsewhere, temperatures will be a good 10, 15, in some cases 0 degrees above average. hard to believe first week of december east of the mississippi. >> almost took off my coat on the way in. thank you. >> it was warm. 46 minutes past the hour. let's get you up to date with this morning' top stories. the grieving kansas city chiefs come together and pull out a win over the carolina panthers. this is a day after police say their teammate jovan belcher shot and killed his 22-year-old girlfriend kasandra perkins. a few minutes afterwards, he turned the gun on himself just outside the chiefs practice facility right in front of coaches and the gm. they leave behind a 3-month-old daughter. so -- >> president obama kicks off december with a busy schedule today he hosts the prime minister of bulgaria in the oval office. he then heads to national defense university to deliver remarks and tomorrow the president will meet the governors at the white house to talk about that impending so-called fiscal cliff. >> cory booker is taking the

food stamp challenge this week. the newark, new jersey mayor, will only be eating what he can afford to buy with just over $333. that's the average weekly food stamp benefit in his state. booker tweeting that he will be giving up coffee because he will not be able to afford it. >> i really like that he's doing that. >> we should see how that turns out. >> drawing a red line, secretary of state hillary clinton talks tough to syria about using chemical weapons. we will have a live report next. make you feel alive. l meet the five-passenger ford c-max hybrid. c-max says ha. c-max says wheeee. which is what you get, don't you see? cause c-max has lots more horsepower than prius v, a hybrid that c-max also bests in mpg. say hi to the all-new 47 combined mpg c-max hybrid. anyone have occasional constipation, diarrhea, gas, bloating? yeah.

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51 minutes past the hour. there is growing concern within the obama administration that the assad regime in syria may resort to chemical weapons in its ongoing fight with 9 rebels. in fact, secretary of state

hillary clinton issued a stern warning this morning calling the potential use of such weapons a red line for the united states. >> in fact, one administration official told cnn there are, quote, worrying signs of activity in syria, just in the past couple of days. pentagon correspondent barbara star, we're so happy to thank, is with us in studio this morning. barbara, great to see you. so the white house apparently hasn't revealed any new evidence that the syrian government is planning to deploy these weapons. >> what are we talking about here? they're not revealing it publicly but in fact there has been intelligence over the last couple of days that the syrians are moving their chemical weapons inventory around. and it's quite different. in the past we've seen them moving it around to store it essentially, make it more secure, as fighting's gotten closer. this time all of our sources are telling us, it is telling us, it is different. that what they are seeing is movement that could potentially

signal the use of chemical weapons. this typically would be matching up the chemical with preparing it with a warhead. with artillery. with rockets. all the signs that they could be getting ready for an attack. very worrying. a lot of international pressure in the last several days now being put on the syrians not to do this. >> if this is true, how does the united states respond to this? >> it becomes very difficult. what do you do about this? president obama's called it a red line. there is no appetite for unilateral u.s. strike against any of these fights. you have to give the coalition in the region on board, and at the moment, i think it's fair to say they're going to go with extreme diplomatic pressure against the signs that they're seeing that this weapons inventory is being moved around and possibly, possibly being prepared for use. they're not sure yet what the intent really is. but everyone is saying this time it looks different.

>> meanwhile, a side story but also very important is they're having trouble controlling the flow of weapons into the country, especially from iran, because iraq is not intercepting these planes as they go through its air space. >> this has been one of the big questions, how is the weapons flow either to the rebels or to the regime to resupply the regime, how is it all getting in there? by all accounts the iranians still resupplying the regime at various times, coming in by air cargo and those cargos are not inspected as they cross international air space. >> right. all right barbara starr, thank you so much for coming in today. we really appreciate it. >> today's best advice is next. music is a universal language. but when i was in an accident... i was worried the health care system spoke a language all its own with unitedhealthcare, i got help that fit my life.

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with no odor. so all you notice is relief. aspercreme. what a beautiful shot of new york city. looks gog foggy. i ran in the park yesterday central park and you could -- >> did you say you ran in the park? >> i did. >> attagirl. it's going to be 58 degrees, alina. another run is in store for you. >> you mean i can't take a nap? >> no. >> 58 minutes past the hour. >> today we hear from jon huntsman about the best advice he's ever received. >> well, best advice, you know, you receive a lot of advice from people, particularly when yew in the world of politics, some of it is good, some of it is not so good but i think the best advice i've ever received is the simple admonition that you should follow your heart.

if you stop to think that following your heart is probably the purest, most honest thing to do because your heart will never let you down or will never lie to you. in your head you can think through a lot of different options, then you fall back on your heart, and it will always lead you in the right direction. >> who knew that jon huntsman had such a soft side? great advice in love and in life. right? >> that's "early start" thanks for joining us, i'm alina cho. >> and i'm zoraida sambolin. "starting point" starts right now. >> good morning, welcome, everybody, our starting point this morning. trouble in the west, swied spread destruction as storms pound already soggy northern california. plus the fiscal split in washington, d.c. the obama administration drawing a line in the sand over tax hikes. the two sides seem further apart than ever with less than